Corazon Dies

The heroine of the revolution is gone. She is no more.Toppling ironman Ferdinand Marcos was no mean feat but Corazon did it and avenged the death of her husband Benigno. With Corazon came people power to the Philippines. Many years later, the current sitting President, Gloria Arroyo Macapagal was to use the same means to get rid of Estrada. Filipino history has never been the same since Corazon.

She has her ups and downs. Her daughter,Kris was her pride who also caused her untold heartaches, as being a young renown starlet, Kris was to get involved in many trysts especially in Hong-Kong. Her rule as President also had alot of problems. Corruption and cessation violence in Mindanao continued during her times. We know she tried her best. It was just not easy.....

We say farewell to her in this blog. Adios! Magandang Babayee!

What A Joke!

This is just not acceptable! Could you believe this Straits Times Report that appeared on-line today?

Despite the state of the island state economy and the huge turnout at job fairs of late, gaming positions at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) are going a-begging.

Imagine, the integrated resort (IR) is struggling to fill the 4,500 places it has for croupiers, cashiers and slot attendants, among others.

It has hired only about 2,000 Singaporeans so far, and says it will have a last go at hiring here during a job fair to be held this weekend.Failing to fill the positions, it will be forced to look to foreign shores.

He said the toughest position to fill is that of croupier, a job for which the minimum qualifications are being above 21 years old, having manual dexterity, customer service and simple arithmetic skills, and no colour-blindness.

The starting pay is S$1,800 (RM4,320) before tips. Even training is provided by the company. Those with a talent for the job can rise to the position of shift manager, earning up to S$11,000 a month.

Other gaming jobs have similar salaries and career paths.

And yet, there are no takers.

Davie said this is the first time that the Las Vegas-based group has had so much trouble filling gaming positions. It had no problem at its home base or its Macau outfit.

The casino veteran said yesterday: “We felt we should have been able to fill the positions by now.”

He said MBS received thousands of applications for the 10,000 jobs on offer, but most were for other openings, such as waiters, marketing positions and housekeeping.

Some of those who did apply for gaming jobs were not serious about taking up the positions available.

The other IR, Resorts World at Sentosa, said it did not face such a problem and had started hiring earlier, according to its spokesman.

However, unlike MBS, which is trying to fill all its casino positions with Singaporeans, about 30 per cent of the Sentosa IR's hires for the dealer post so far are foreigners.

Davie put MBS’s hiring difficulties down to the fact that gaming is a new industry here and people may feel some trepidation about taking a job they know little about.

They may also have concerns about career progression, he said.

Halimah Yacob, the deputy secretary of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), agreed, saying that perhaps Singaporeans are scared of trying something new. There might also be some kind of stigma attached to working in a casino, she said.

Ang Hin Kee, chief executive officer of NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute, which is partnering MBS to screen Singaporeans for positions, said that many people have a misconception that the job requires skill and prior experience.

The idea of shift work is also less than appealing to some, he said.

Other analysts say the root of Singaporeans' reluctance to take gaming jobs could be down to pay: One industry insider said MBS’s dealers will get less than those in Macau, who get around S$2,300 before tips.

Over the years, some jobs here have had to be redesigned to attract Singaporeans, who have shunned them for pay, prestige or other reasons.

These jobs include work involving long, irregular hours, manual jobs, or having to deal with difficult customers.

The recession has taken a heavy toll on employment here.

The government's most recent labour market report showed that total employment fell by 6,200 in the first quarter of this year — the first quarterly contraction in nearly six years.

Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong has said he does not expect a let-up in the jobless rate, which currently stands at 3.3 per cent.

For gaming analyst Jonathan Galaviz, a partner at tourism and gaming consultancy firm Globalysis, the low take-up rate for MBS’s gaming positions is puzzling.

He said more IRs will be coming up in the region soon, and Singaporeans should strike while the iron is hot.
“This will provide significant career opportunities over the next decade,” he said.

A Day at the Petronas Dagangan AGM

As Petronas Dagangan Berhad (PDB)was one of the better AGM to attend, I started early by LRT to the KLCC. On registration, I was given a breakfast pack. Great way to have your own packed breakfast without rushing for breakfast like hungry wolves as seen in most AGMs.Tea and coffee was free-flowing.

Took the opportunity to apply for Petronas Maybank Co-branded Visa Card and CIMB-Petronas Co-branded Visa as well. CIMB gave me an umbrella while Maybank gave me a journal and a pen. I also re-registered for my Mesra Petronas Loyalty Card.

It was a good meeting. PDB pays good dividend to its shareholders. It paid 33% for fiscal 2008. One of the Director which refused to agree to a suggestion that they franked out all the retained earnings as dividends to shareholders got a real good tongue-lashing. Poor China man-must have been a great accountant to be hired to sit on the PDB Board.

I also got two squeeze balls from Petronas for both me and Choo Peen. Good to practice palm and finger exercises to avoid rheumatoid attacks and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Lunch was very good. Cukup baik Petronas. Syabas!

AGMs This Week

I attended the AGM for Alliance Financial Group yesterday and TAHPS this afternoon. Alliance was a good meeting with an excellent presentation by Brigitte Lai. Meeting went on well. Breakfast was good but the packed lunch box was dismal.
The TAHPS meeting attracted not many members and proxies. After afternoon tea, the meeting started and ended by 4 pm. High tea was fine with mee-hoon, fried siew kao, cakes and fruits.

Both did not have any door gifts.

So please take note of this next year.

Do not Lie!

This is one great joke; a must read.

LIE DETECTOR!

John was a salesman's delight when it came to any kind of unusual gimmick.
His wife Marsha had long ago given up trying to get him to change.
One day John came home with another one of his unusual purchases.
It was a robot that John claimed was actually a lie detector.

It was about 5:30 that afternoon when Tommy,
their 11 year old son, returned home from school.
Tommy was over 2 hours late.

'Where have you been?
Why are you over 2 hours late getting home?' asked John.

'Several of us went to the library to work on an extra credit project,' said Tommy.

The robot then walked around the table and slapped Tommy,
knocking him completely out of his chair.

'Son,' said John,
'this robot is a lie detector, now tell us where you really were after school.'

'We went to Bobby's house and watched a movie.' said Tommy.

'What did you watch?' asked Marsha.

'The Ten Commandments.' answered Tommy.

The robot went around to Tommy and once again slapped him,
knocking him off his chair once more.

With his lip quivering, Tommy got up,
sat down and said, 'I am sorry I lied.
We really watched a tape called Sex Queen.'

'I am ashamed of you son,' said John.
'When I was your age, I never lied to my parents.'

The robot then walked around to John
and delivered a whack that nearly knocked him out of his chair.

Marsha doubled over in laughter, almost in tears and said,
'Boy, did you ever ask for that one!
You can't be too mad with Tommy.
After all, he is your son!'

With that the robot immediately walked around to Marsha
and knocked her out of her chair.

60% Projected Opening of Genting Sentosa Island

Genting Bhd's new casino resort in Singapore will start receiving guests in two-thirds of the facilities by early next year, including Southeast Asia's first Universal Studio theme park and the casino.It is aiming for 60 per cent overseas visitors, most of whom will come from Malaysia.

Other key target markets are China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. An estimated 12 million to 13 million visitors are expected to arrive in the first year at the resort on Sentosa Island, a stone's throw from the harbourfront Vivocity shopping mall. "By early 2010, a good 60-70 per cent will be opened.

We are talking about the Universal Studio, four hotels, part of Festive Walk, which is a dining and shopping area, and the casino," Robin Goh, assistant communications director of Resorts World at Sentosa Pte Ltd, told Business Times in an interview in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. "We would love to (open by Chinese New Year), but we don't have the date yet," he said.

The rest of the project, including the Oceanarium and two more hotels, will be ready in the following months. The company is ramping up publicity and marketing efforts to prepare for ticket sales which will start towards the year-end. As a prelude to the opening, a charity concert will be staged within the resort in December, Goh said.

Both the integrated resorts in Singapore are expected to open in the first three months of next year. Analysts are speculating that Resorts World, which started construction later, may be the first to open after Marina Bay Sands encountered some delays. Marina Bay Sands will probably open in either January or February, its executive director of sales Paul Stocker told Business Times separately.

Analysts believe that the two resorts will strive to start operations before Chinese New Year, which falls on Valentine's Day next year, to capture the peak period for the casino. Goh said that Resorts World had yet to decide the ticket price for the theme park or the hotel room rates, but was "mindful" of its pricing strategy to attract the crucial Malaysian crowd. It will probably bundle hotel stays with entrance fees, apart from the day ticket, two-day pass and annual pass.

"What is important is that Malaysian families must be able to see value for money in our theme park. "The proposition is that this will be the nearest Universal Studio among the four parks in the world, and it is a world-class facility and not a watered-down version. "There will be 24 rides in Singapore's Universal Studio compared with around 21 for the other destinations in Osaka, Japan, and Orlando and Los Angeles in the US.

Eighteen of the rides are built exclusively for the park in Singapore, Goh said. Among the highlights, a new Transformers ride will debut in Singapore, replacing the popular Spiderman three-dimension thrill ride which is already in all the three existing parks.

Shorter Trading Halt on Bursar

From August 3, 2009, the trading halt of stocks to disseminate material announcements by listed companies will be shortened to one hour from one trading session currently.

The move will apparently benefit listed companies as there will only be a minimal disruption of their securities from being traded.

Also, investors will benefit too from more trading opportunities as the suspension hours are significantly reduced.

A trading halt refers to a temporary halt in the trading of listed securities upon the release of information that has material effect on the price of the securities.

“A trading halt imposed when making material disclosure is important to enable investors adequate time to evaluate the company's announcements and make informed investment decisions,” said Bursa Malaysia Bhd’s chief executive officer Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff.

He said shortening of the halt period would enhance market efficiency as trading interruption was kept to the minimum, and both the issuer and investor would benefit from being able to trade with minimal interruptions.

Currently, Bursa Malaysia requires listed companies to make material disclosures to the exchange and these announcements are posted on the exchange’s website, ensuring investors have continuous access to corporate information.

For example, the materials announcements made before the trading period starts (9am) as well as between 9am and 11am, a trading halt will be imposed for one hour from the time the material announcement is made.

Order entry and modification will be allowed during this time and the theoretical opening price (TOP) will be calculated, but no matching of trades will take place.